On Saturday, November 1, The California Department of Food and
Agriculture (CDFA) will begin an Oriental Fruit Fly (OFF) eradication
program in portions of Pasadena, San Marino, San Gabriel, Alhambra,
nearby unincorporated areas, and along some borders of Sierra Madre,
Arcadia, and Temple City (see attached map). In mid-August, CDFA
initiated a similar OFF eradication program in the Pasadena-San Marino
area in response to the detection of three specimens of OFF. On
Tuesday, October 28, a male specimen was detected in Pasadena, and on
Wednesday, October 29, a female specimen was detected less than a mile
away in San Marino. These detections are close enough to each other and
close enough to the previous detections to necessitate the renewed
eradication program.
As before, a "male attractant" technique will be employed to combat
this pest. Such a technique presents no inconvenience to community
members. It consists of squirting a small spot of bait onto streetside
tree trunks. Approximately 600 such "bait stations" are placed
approximately six to eight feet up on the poles and trees in each square
mile of the eradication area. Male flies feed on the bait and are
killed by the small amount of Naled pesticide in the bait. No aerial
bait treatments are planned. These treatments will repeat at two-week
intervals for at least four sessions. The previous round of treatments
had ended on October 3.
Oriental Fruit Fly is one of the world's most destructive insect
pests. Its immature, or maggot stage, feeds on hundreds of different
fruits and vegetables. Originally from southeast Asia, it is now found
in Hawaii and other Pacific Islands.
The California Department of Food and Agriculture can be reached at
(818) 901-0719.
Ken Pellman
Public Information Officer
County of Los Angeles Agricultural Commissioner/Weights & Measures
Phone: (626) 579-8589...Fax: (626) 444-3059...E-mail:
kpellman@acwm.lacounty.gov
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